After a while you start to smile, now you feel cool (The Beatles)

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Thomas Oppong's habit # 55 for a great life is: 

What are your repeatable morning triggers for a good day? Don’t ever start a day without knowing what to do. How you start your day determines how the rest of the day turns out. “Lose an hour in the morning, and you will be all day hunting for it.” Richard Whately said.

My repeatable triggers are:

• Arrive at school at the same time each day 
• Do a few chores like unloading the dishwasher, filling up the billy and making a cuppa - that all helps cleanse the palate and adjust from home mode to job mode
• Check my schedule for the day and pre-brief the day with the first staff on site
• Choose a positive quote to finish the staff ten minute Lean meeting
• Head off to do duty at the front of the school - greeting parents and students at the drop off zone and making sure the bikers and skaters who live locally are safely into the school grounds.
• An extra bonus would be publishing that day's blogpost and reading the Morning Brew on my phone while waiting for Lean to start.

If all that goes smoothly I've had a solid start to the day. 

One day at a time is good for you (John Lennon)

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Number 54 on Thomas Oppong's list of 100 habits for a great life is this:

Replace perfect with good enough. Instead of waiting for an ideal outcome, focus on making progress daily. One action at a time is how you make progress.

And, you know what? I think he's right.

From the dark end of the street to the bright side of the road (Van Morrison)

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I am a naturally optimistic, glass half full kind of guy. So much so, that it seems to exasperate some of my colleagues at times.

So I had to think hard when confronted by this piece of James Clear wisdom:

"Optimism early, pessimism in the middle, optimism late.

Your starting position has to be somewhat optimistic or you'll talk yourself out of getting started. Believing in what you are about to do does not guarantee success, but a lack of belief can prevent it.

Once you've committed, pessimism becomes useful. Question things. Find holes in your plan. Hold yourself to a high standard and try to identify your mistaken beliefs before they become your misplaced actions.

After you've spent some time troubleshooting, it's back to optimism again. Nothing will ever be perfect, but you have to act anyway. Progress requires the courage to forge ahead despite the inevitable obstacles."

It's that pessimism in the middle bit that I had to reflect upon long and hard.

I tend to rely on others to find the holes (work colleagues, my wife) because the holes don't naturally appear to me.

At our campus we are currently in the middle of a building project and my planning to move to the hall while that's happening was all about how to make things work, rather than what could go wrong.

We've successfully navigated a tricky start to that because we adjusted (yes, the ole pivot) as a team. Having a variety of different looks, including a real couple of pessimists on the team, really helped.

I'd struggle to do that myself, but with the help of others we find balance in the force.

You better you better you bet (The Who)

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At the moment in my school context, there is quite a lot of discussion around appropriate work place environments for teachers.

Brief context: in a fundamental change, all staff on a non-contact must now work in the Secondary School students' Learning Centre (a purpose built space where students do their zoom lessons and use as a study space - in our version of that it's currently temporary accommodation in the gym as our Learning Centre is being remodeled).

Let's delve into this discussion, keeping in mind the advice from Thomas Oppong: Design a work environment that works for you. Are you more productive in silence? Do you work better with white noise? Experiment and design a unique work environment just for you.

Teachers are free to use any space within the Learning Centre zones they wish. The clearly defined zones: quiet areas, collaborative, semi-collaborative.

Some of the culturally centred reasons/aims behind this move: to replicate working environments that students will go into after they leave school; to role model good practice; to improve relationships between Primary teachers and Secondary students.

I've spent this first week of term thinking about effective use of space in our Learning Centre. It's a work in progress but so far, and not surprisingly, I've found I need to be based in the semi-collaborative zones when actively supervising/coaching, but in a quiet zone when on a non-contact.

For some of the teachers, it will also take time to adjust to this new mode of working but, already, after one week, I am seeing positive benefits from this approach and being in a larger space like our gym has already improved the atmosphere in the Learning Centre.

I do understand that some teachers will feel that this idea cramps their style or needs, in that they need a completely silent space, or else they need specialist resources or equipment. 

I would hope they would give this new idea a chance, but I also hope that common sense will prevail and that we can move into a higher trust model where professionals are trusted to make these decisions for themselves.

Let's get into physical, let me hear your body talk (Olivia Newton-John)

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Time to return to Thomas Oppong's 100 Habits. Here are five more:

Invest at least 30 minutes every day doing a side hobby you find relaxing — you can schedule it in the evenings or early mornings. For me it's blogging. I aim to publish one post a day on my blogs, on a revolving basis. It helps me get some perspective and I love the discipline involved.

Start a pre-sleep ritual — remove all digital distractions and read a physical book instead. Reading a book before bed prepares your mind to wind down. I do this for ten to 15 minutes each night. Drives my wife nuts but I need it.

Systemise the same decisions you make every day: how you work, what to eat, what to wear, how to start your day, etc. It saves brain energy for high level or meaningful work. A systems-first mentality changes everything. I get that this is not for everyone, but I fully support this one - my clothes are ready the night before (shirt ironed), my morning work routine is all set to go (same commute, same timings, and so on).

Use at least 10% of your time (daily) to read. The return is exponential. Warren Buffet spends 80% of his day reading. Strong reading habit improves how you think, decide, work, invest or build a better life. I read every day - nowhere near 80% though, even on holidays. I'm lucky, I've always been a reader. I've tried digital a few years ago but I quickly went back to physical books.

Move your body every morning. Spend a few minutes of your morning to stretch. A good physical shape has a massive impact on your brain health, productivity and total wellbeing. My back has been sore for some time so I have 5 exercises I need to do each day to help improve it. 

Expectations

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"When you're in the middle of the work, set your expectations high. It's unlikely your performance will exceed the standard you set for yourself. High expectations encourage you to keep reaching and fulfill your potential.

Once the work is done, release yourself from your expectations. The fastest way to ruin a good outcome is to tell yourself it's not good enough. Your expectations dictate your happiness more than your results.

Expectations can be helpful as a motivator and unhelpful as a measuring stick. Now that the work is done you can rest easy knowing you tried your best. You've already won."

James Clear